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en-usTechdirt. Stories filed under "rcmp"https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/td-88x31.gifhttps://www.techdirt.com/Thu, 18 Aug 2016 03:36:33 PDTCanadian Law Enforcement Admit -- And Then Deny -- They Own A Stingray DeviceTim Cushinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160813/18351335236/canadian-law-enforcement-admit-then-deny-they-own-stingray-device.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160813/18351335236/canadian-law-enforcement-admit-then-deny-they-own-stingray-device.shtml
Stingrays are now as common as cockroaches in the United States, but we haven't heard much about their use by Canadian law enforcement. A denial or a confirmation would be nice, but not strictly necessary. It's safe to assume anything US cops can get, Canadian law enforcement can obtain as well.

According to the BC Civil Liberties Association, which posted a blog announcing the news on Monday, the Vancouver police used an IMSI catcher once, nearly a decade ago, and without a warrant.

“We sent a letter asking the Vancouver police if they’d ever used one of the RCMP’s IMSI catchers, and if they would again,” said Micheal Vonn, policy director for the BCCLA. “The answer to both questions was yes.”

So just once? A decade ago? The Vancouver PD sounds about as credible as a presidential candidate being questioned about past drug use. Still, the Vancouver PD insists it has no files on Stingray use, despite admitting to using a Stingray.

On Thursday afternoon, Edmonton police spokesperson Anna Batchelor sent me an email saying, “I’m able to confirm the Edmonton Police Service owns a Stingray device and has used the device in the past during investigations.”

This was another first. Vancouver law enforcement -- according to what had been told to Motherboard -- didn't own the Stingray it used. It borrowed the device from the RCMP and was instructed on how to use it by a Mountie tech.

Several hours later, the Edmonton PD wasn't so sure it owned and/or deployed an IMSI catcher.

On Friday, I received a call from Superintendent Terry Rocchio of the Edmonton police, who delivered a frantic and conflicting message: the Edmonton police do not own a Stingray, he said, and Batchelor’s confirmation was the result of internal miscommunications. He was very sorry for the misinformation, he said.

Combined with the previous statement, it appears as though Edmonton PD superintendent Terry Rocchio is apologizing for his own words, which certainly gives the appearance of being misinformation. Further statements released by the Edmonton PD claim the department does not own a Stingray but, again, this is at odds with the unexpectedly straightforward statement given to Motherboard in response to its original query.

Now, it could be that Edmonton law enforcement did the same thing Vancouver's did and borrowed it from the nearest RCMP bug shop. Or it could be that this is just the Canadian version of playing along with non-disclosure agreements. Most agencies contacted by Motherboard refused to comment. Others refused to confirm or deny. And the one agency that DID say it had a Stingray now says it doesn't.

Given the opacity surrounding local law enforcement use/ownership of these devices, it's probably safe to say they've been deployed without warrants and hidden from judges, defendants, and -- quite possibly -- local legislators. Months or years from now, Motherboard may have a more complete answer, but for now, this appears to be Canadian law enforcement scrambling to stave off some inevitable discoveries.

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]]>stingr-eh?https://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20160813/18351335236Wed, 3 Aug 2016 22:10:31 PDTCanadian Judge Tosses Case After Finding Law Enforcement Entrapped Supposed TerroristsTim Cushinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160731/18162435122/canadian-judge-tosses-case-after-finding-law-enforcement-entrapped-supposed-terrorists.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160731/18162435122/canadian-judge-tosses-case-after-finding-law-enforcement-entrapped-supposed-terrorists.shtml
It's not just FBI agents playing with Home-Grown Terrorist™ Erector Sets. It's also Canada's top law enforcement agency, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. When there apparently aren't enough actual terrorists to be found, agencies like these need to front the $40 at Wal-Mart for terrorist supplies, or dupe someone with an IQ of 51 into becoming the latest Indictment Du Jour.

Despite this, courts have largely gone along with the charade. It's almost impossible for someone to successfully raise an entrapment defense, whether it's a group of senior citizens who've been molded by undercover agents into an ad hoc terror unit or a bunch of easily-impressed thugs being hounded into stealing nonexistent drugs from fake stash houses.

A British Columbia couple convicted of terrorism charges have had their verdicts tossed out in a scathing court decision that flays the RCMP for its “egregious” conduct in manipulating naive suspects into carrying out a police-manufactured crime.

[...]

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce said the Mounties used trickery, deceit and veiled threats to engineer the terrorist acts for which Nuttall and Korody were arrested on Canada Day three years ago.

The RCMP, like its US equivalent, only seeks the best of the best when attempting to turn citizens into terrorists. In this case, the RCMP found two easy marks -- both heavily dependent on welfare checks and methadone -- and convinced them they were going to be involved in a revolutionary pressure cooker bombing at some point in the future.

Judge Bruce noted that the two suspects contributed almost nothing to the RCMP's plan. In fact, the judge stated that without the RCMP's incredible amount of assistance, any plans to bomb anything likely would never have materialized. The indicted pair weren't exactly self-starters, and the RCMP's undercover agent basically had to act like a maniacal cult leader to get them to do anything at all.

She also condemned the behaviour of the primary undercover officer who, at the direction of the operation’s overseers, discouraged Nuttall and Korody from seeking outside spiritual guidance and convinced them he was a member of a powerful international terrorist group that would likely kill them if they failed to follow through.

“He was their leader and they were his disciples,” said Bruce, who stayed the proceedings, which threw out the convictions and allowed the couple to walk free after more than three years behind bars.

The government is appealing the decision and still firmly believes that the only party that did anything wrong here were the methadone users who hardly did anything. And for their minimal contributions to the RCMP's master plan, the Crown is hoping to get a second chance at putting these two away for the rest of their lives.

Judge Bruce's statement when tossing the charges should be repeated on this side of the border, where the FBI seems to expend a majority of its anti-terrorism time and energy pushing reluctant, inept, mostly-incapable people into becoming the bumbling, sacrificial figureheads of ISIS: West.

“The world has enough terrorists. We do not need the police to create more.”

There appears to be no shortage of legitimate (so to speak…) criminal activity for law enforcement to pursue and investigate. And yet, given the choice, they'd rather craft both criminals and criminal activity from the ground up, scoring easy goals against unguarded nets -- making the world a little less safe while ensuring their budgets are never endangered.

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]]>but-for-the-grace-of-untargeted,-overbudgeted-law-enforcement-agencies-go-wehttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20160731/18162435122Tue, 19 Apr 2016 11:43:13 PDTBlackBerry Offers Glomar, 'Bad Guys Got Caught,' In Non-Comment On Canadian Law Enforcement's Full Access To Encrypted MessagesTim Cushinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160419/08015434208/blackberry-offers-glomar-bad-guys-got-caught-non-comment-canadian-law-enforcements-full-access-to-encrypted-messages.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160419/08015434208/blackberry-offers-glomar-bad-guys-got-caught-non-comment-canadian-law-enforcements-full-access-to-encrypted-messages.shtml
BlackBerry has finally responded to Motherboard's story on the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's apparent full access to encrypted communications -- something that hinted the RCMP may have been given BlackBerry messaging's "Golden Key." Sort of. It's mostly an indirect Glomar followed by a statement that confirms something people already know.

BlackBerry still has not commented directly to Motherboard or VICE News on the specifics of the investigation, but CEO John Chen published a blog post on Monday addressing the report in broad strokes… very broad strokes.

[...]

“Regarding BlackBerry’s assistance,” Chen wrote instead, “I can reaffirm that we stood by our lawful access principles. Furthermore, at no point was BlackBerry’s BES server involved.”

BES is BlackBerry Enterprise Server -- the only option available where customers can lock BlackBerry out of access to communications. With BES, encryption keys are set by users, which means BlackBerry can no longer decrypt messages using its global PIN encryption key. Notably, this option is only available to corporate or government customers. Everyone else gets vanilla encryption, which can be decrypted by BlackBerry for law enforcement. Or, as appears to be the case in Canada, the key can be handed out to law enforcement agencies, allowing them to decrypt at will… because there's only one encryption key for all non-BES users.

According to BlackBerry CEO John Chen, the ends justify the means he pointedly won't be discussing in detail.

We have long been clear in our stance that tech companies as good corporate citizens should comply with reasonable lawful access requests.

[...]

This very belief was put to the test in an old case that recently resurfaced in the news, which speculated on and challenged BlackBerry’s corporate and ethical principles. In the end, the case resulted in a major criminal organization being dismantled.

BlackBerry continues to play both sides of the equation, providing "regular" users with less secure communications while claiming to be the "gold standard" in encrypted communications -- a privilege it only extends to some of its customers, unlike Apple or Google, which provide encryption to all of their customers.

The company has nothing to offer customers in the way of assurances, but it does seem to be going out of its way to soothe the nerves of law enforcement officials frustrated by smartphone encryption. It may make a big deal about its fight against Pakistan and its demands for access (Chen highlights this in his blog post), but it seems less than likely to go to bat for a majority of its users when faced with overreach by more "acceptable" governments.

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]]>'in-conclusion,-Blackberry-is-a-land-of-contrasts'https://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20160419/08015434208Fri, 15 Apr 2016 08:36:22 PDTCanadian Law Enforcement Can Intercept, Decrypt Blackberry MessagesTim Cushinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160414/10482434186/canadian-law-enforcement-can-intercept-decrypt-blackberry-messages.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160414/10482434186/canadian-law-enforcement-can-intercept-decrypt-blackberry-messages.shtml
Blackberry's CEO, John Chen, didn't care for the fact that Apple was "locking" law enforcement out of its devices by providing customers with default encryption. As he saw it, Apple was placing profits ahead of Mom, Apple pie and American-made motorcars.

For years, government officials have pleaded to the technology industry for help yet have been met with disdain. In fact, one of the world's most powerful tech companies recently refused a lawful access request in an investigation of a known drug dealer because doing so would "substantially tarnish the brand" of the company. We are indeed in a dark place when companies put their reputations above the greater good.

Chen refused to "extend privacy to criminals." How he had any way of knowing who was or wasn't a criminal at the point of sale was not detailed in his rant.

Then news surfaced that Dutch law enforcement could bypass Blackberry encryption with seeming impunity. At that point, Blackberry became defensive about its new stature as the least secure smartphone option. It claimed in a blog post that its stock phones were not open books for the world's law enforcement agencies. Despite promising earlier that the company would not aid criminals in keeping their secrets from law enforcement, Blackberry heatedly claimed its devices were secure as ever -- even in the hands of criminals.

[T]here are no backdoors in any BlackBerry devices, and BlackBerry does not store and therefore cannot share BlackBerry device passwords with law enforcement or anyone else.

Imagine for a moment that everybody's front door has the same key. Now imagine that the police have a copy of that key, and can saunter into your living room to poke around your belongings while you're out, and without your knowledge.

In addition to routing and compressing data traffic, RIM's service offerings also include a measure of security in excess of the practices adopted by their competitors. BBM, as an example, is encrypted. However, it is encrypted using a global key. RIM has written that,

"The BlackBerry device scrambles PIN messages using the PIN encryption key. By default, each BlackBerry device uses a global PIN encryption key, which allows the BlackBerry device to decrypt every PIN message that the BlackBerry device receives."

This means that RIM can decrypt consumers' messages that are encrypted with the global key. Consumer devices include all RIM offerings that are not integrated with a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES). The BES lets administrators change the encryption key, which prevents RIM from using the global decryption key to get at the plaintext of BES-secured communication.

Blackberry may be technically correct when it asserts it has no access to user passwords. But that hardly matters when it holds the key that can decrypt any BBM communications that pass through its service (with the exception of administrator-level business accounts). This single key's access to unencrypted communications is likely what allowed (and possibly still allows) the RCMP to obtain plaintext messages.

According to the documents obtained by Motherboard, the RCMP appears to be using some sort of Stingray-but-for-BBM technology to intercept and decrypt messages.

[The RCMP maintains a server in Ottawa that "simulates a mobile device that receives a message intended for [the rightful recipient]." In an affidavit, RCMP sergeant Patrick Boismenu states that the server "performs the decryption of the message using the appropriate decryption key." The RCMP calls this the "BlackBerry interception and processing system."

By inserting itself into the middle of communications, the RCMP can intercept the messages. Access to the Golden Key ensures they can be read. The conclusion reached by both the defense team and the judge presiding over the case? The RCMP has Blackberry's global encryption key.

The defence in the case surmised that the RCMP must have used the "correct global encryption key," since any attempt to apply a key other than BlackBerry's own global encryption key would have resulted in a garbled mess. According to the judge, "all parties"—including the Crown—agree that "the RCMP would have had the correct global key when it decrypted messages during its investigation."

Unfortunately, there aren't many more details. Many of the documents related to this case remain under seal and the RCMP certainly isn't going to discuss its interception/decryption secrets if it doesn't have to. It could very well be that it demanded (and obtained) the key from Blackberry, much in the way the FBI demanded Lavabit's SSL key. If so, Blackberry was far more cooperative than Lavabit, which chose to shut down the service rather than allow the government to have total access. (And it has been hinted by the DOJ that this sort of request may be headed Apple's way if it continues to fight its All Writs orders.)

Somewhat ironically, the RCMP acknowledged in court that outing a cellphone provider as Junior G-Men would probably tarnish Blackberry's reputation -- basically the same thing Blackberry CEO John Chen claimed was the height of Apple impudence

RCMP inspector Mark Flynn testified in a heavily redacted transcript that BlackBerry "facilitated the interception process," however, Flynn also stated that facilitation could mean mere information sharing or a physical action to aid interception.

Flynn further testified that revealing the key would jeopardize the RCMP's working relationship with BlackBerry, and harm BlackBerry itself, since "it is not a good marketing thing to say we work with the police."

The question now is whether the RCMP still has this level of access. To cut off the RCMP, Blackberry would have needed to alter the global decryption key -- something that would have required "a massive update... on [a] per-handset basis," according to Citizen Lab's Christopher Parsons. And if Canada's law enforcement has it (or had it), odds are law enforcement agencies in other countries had similar access. Investigators may not be keen to expose techniques in court or in released documents, but they're usually pretty good about sharing this info with like-minded law enforcement agencies.

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]]>so-much-for-the-one-thing-Blackberry-used-to-have-going-for-it...https://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20160414/10482434186Fri, 1 Apr 2016 14:32:00 PDTCanadian Court Says Vice Magazine Must Hand Over Its Communications With A Suspected TerroristTim Cushinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160331/13024334068/canadian-court-says-vice-magazine-must-hand-over-communications-with-suspected-terrorist.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160331/13024334068/canadian-court-says-vice-magazine-must-hand-over-communications-with-suspected-terrorist.shtml
A Canadian court -- granting a request made by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) -- is in the process of dismantling protections for Canadian journalists. The case involves a Skype interview by Vice Magazine with an alleged terrorist currently located in Syria. The interview, in which the self-avowed terrorist (Farad Mohamed Shirdon) claimed an attack in New York City was imminent, appeared back in October 2015 and led directly to his being charged in absentia with several terrorism-related offenses.

Since that point, Vice has been battling to protect itself from a production order by the RCMP, seeking communications between Vice reporter Ben Makuch and Shidron. It has argued that forcing a journalistic entity to turn over communications with a source would set a dangerous precedent that would adversely affect press freedom in that country.

The RCMP says the communications are evidence -- or presumably are, since they haven't been turned over yet. The court seems to agree.

[I]n a decision released this week, the court rejected VICE's attempt to quash the order, ruling that the police's ability to gather evidence trumps the rights of VICE and Makuch to protect their work product in this case. Specifically, the screen captures of the chats are "important evidence in relation to very serious allegations" and "The screen captures are a copy of the actual electronic messages that Shirdon placed on Mr. Makuch's computer screen. They are highly reliable evidence that do not require a second hand interpretation," Justice Ian MacDonell wrote in his decision.

Vice News is looking at appealing this order. As it points out, its reporting already led to the identifying and charging of Shidron, something that most likely would not have happened without its publication. It also claims nothing it has in its possession will provide any more insight on Shidron's current location or future plans.

As Vice's attorney points out, this sort of demand is a threat to journalism.

VICE's lawyer, Iain MacKinnon, said similar production orders could become more common in Canada if police know they can easily obtain notes and recordings from journalists. "It could have a very real chilling effect on the willingness of people and witnesses speaking to journalists," said MacKinnon. "If people realize that what they say to a journalist could easily be handed over to police and used as part of a criminal investigation, that may scare somebody off in speaking to a journalist."

A large part of what makes journalism journalism is investigatory work and speaking to sources who wouldn't feel comfortable speaking to someone if they couldn't be assured anonymity or other protections. Journalists are not an extension of law enforcement or any other government body (or at least shouldn't be), but that's what an order like this does: makes Vice News a convenient source for law enforcement to obtain communications and documents from. I'm sure Vice has no desire to "harbor" a terrorist, but it also has no desire to see terrorism fears being leveraged to create a dangerous precedent.

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]]>Canadian-journalists-expect-an-Arctic-Front-to-begin-moving-in...https://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20160331/13024334068Wed, 24 Jun 2015 06:01:12 PDTAuthorities Can't Find Anything To Charge Alleged 'Extremist' With But Still Insist On 24-Hour Monitoring, Computer RestrictionsTim Cushinghttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150621/08133931412/authorities-cant-find-anything-to-charge-alleged-extremist-with-still-insist-24-hour-monitoring-computer-restrictions.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150621/08133931412/authorities-cant-find-anything-to-charge-alleged-extremist-with-still-insist-24-hour-monitoring-computer-restrictions.shtml
Canada's civil liberties-trampling anti-terrorism law (C-51) only recently passed, but authorities have been nothing if not proactive in combating the threat posed by radicalized citizens. Co-opting US law enforcement's belief that supportive words = 'material support,' the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raided the home of an "extremist," arresting him and seizing a bunch of his computer equipment.

Harun Abdurahman, known as Aaron Driver to his father, apparently came under surveillance after expressing his "extreme views" during an interview with a Canadian newspaper. His father, a career member of the Canadian Armed Forces, seems somewhat dismayed by his government's actions.

"They told me he was on the watch list. He was considered a radical extremist and 'we hope he doesn't go to terrorist,'" said the man's father in an exclusive interview with CBC News in March. The CBC is not identifying the father.

"Here you've got your national security force, if you will, monitoring your child," he said. "How would you react to something like that? I didn't know what to say."

Driver/Abdurahman may be C-51's first test case/victim, even though his surveillance and arrest occurred before the law was passed. But if the aftermath of this arrest is any indication, Canadians who articulate "extreme" views have a lot more reasons to fear their government than their government has reason to fear them.

Have "no contact or communication directly or indirectly with any member of ISIS, ISIL, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Al Qaida in Iraq." He must also not possess anything bearing the logos or names of any of those groups.

The government believes these are reasonable restrictions to place on a person who has not been charged with nor convicted of any criminal activity. Federal prosecutor Ian Mahon sees these stipulations -- which are far more severe than those that convicted criminals face -- as nothing more than an appropriate level of quid pro quo.

"If he is willing to enter into certain conditions, then there's no reason to keep him in custody," Mahon told CBC News on Monday.

How about "if he hasn't been charged with any crimes, then there's no reason to keep him in custody?" That's sort of how criminal custody works. Apparently, plenty of exceptions will be made for someone deemed dangerous enough to justify a raid involving several officers loaded in tactical gear and the seizure of electronics, but not dangerous enough to be charged and put on trial. This is the Canadian government aggressively chilling speech it doesn't like and nothing more.

And for all the supposed danger Driver posed, the police didn't seem to exercise much care during its weeks of surveillance.

Neighbours say undercover officers have been watching the home in the city's southwestern neighbourhood of Charleswood for months.

LOL. "Undercover."

If the RCMP truly believed this was a dangerous individual, it would have done better obscuring its presence. But all it was looking for was an excuse to bust someone for the nonexistent crime of supporting unpopular views. It openly surveilled a Canadian citizen, held him for a week without charge and then only agreed to release the uncharged Driver if he would agree to further round-the-clock scrutiny from authorities so concerned about his online comments, they couldn't even find anything to charge him with.

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]]>fighting-terrorism-means-never-having-to-make-sensehttps://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20150621/08133931412Thu, 19 Feb 2015 04:08:52 PSTIf You Care About The Environment In Canada, You May Be Targeted As An 'Anti-Petroleum Extremist'Glyn Moodyhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150218/02330930064/if-you-care-about-environment-canada-you-may-be-targeted-as-anti-petroleum-extremist.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150218/02330930064/if-you-care-about-environment-canada-you-may-be-targeted-as-anti-petroleum-extremist.shtmlanother chilling reminder of how that works:

The RCMP [Royal Canadian Mounted Police] has labelled the "anti-petroleum" movement as a growing and violent threat to Canada's security, raising fears among environmentalists that they face increased surveillance, and possibly worse, under the Harper government's new terrorism legislation.

As the Globe and Mail article makes clear, environmentalists are now being considered as part of an "anti-petroleum" movement. That's not just some irrelevant rebranding: it means that new legislation supposedly targeting "terrorism" can be applied.

The legislation identifies "activity that undermines the security of Canada" as anything that interferes with the economic or financial stability of Canada or with the country's critical infrastructure, though it excludes lawful protest or dissent. And it allows the Canadian Security and Intelligence Service to take measures to reduce what it perceives to be threats to the security of Canada.

Clearly, that's an incredibly broad definition, and would apply to just about any environmental or social movement -- especially since even the most peaceful protests are often considered "illegal." That, in its turn would allow Canada's security agencies to collect information on these groups, and "disrupt" them.
What's also troubling about the leaked RCMP "intelligence assessment" that forms the source for the Globe and Mail story is the very clear political position it seems to be taking on fossil fuels and climate change:

The report extolls the value of the oil and gas sector to the Canadian economy, and adds that many environmentalists "claim" that climate change is the most serious global environmental threat, and "claim" it is a direct consequence of human activity and is "reportedly" linked to the use of fossil fuels.

That sounds more like something that would come from the oil and gas industries' marketing departments, rather than from a country's impartial police force. However, as Techdirt has reported before, the current Canadian government has been muzzling other groups that dare to disagree with its policies, especially on climate change, for some time. Redefining environmentalists as anti-petroleum extremists is clearly part of the same repressive approach.

FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police officials have told industry representatives that IPv6 traceability is necessary to identify people suspected of crimes. The FBI has even suggested that a new law may be necessary if the private sector doesn't do enough voluntarily.

The issue has more to do with record-keeping than technology. As Declan McCullagh explains at the link above:

ARIN and the other regional registries maintain public Whois databases for IP addresses, meaning that if you type in 64.30.224.118, you can see that it's registered to CNET's publisher. ARIN tries to ensure that Internet providers keep their segments of the Whois database updated, and because it's been handing out IPv4 addresses blocks every few months, it currently enjoys enough leverage to insist on it.

But for IPv6, ARIN will be handing out much larger Internet address blocks only every 10 to 15 years, meaning it loses much of its ability to convince Internet providers to keep their Whois entries up-to-date. That means it may take law enforcement agencies -- presumably armed with court orders -- longer to trace an IPv6 address such as 2001:4860:4860::8888 back to an Internet service provider's customer.

Of course, some might see that as a feature, not a bug. Either way, I would imagine that most service providers will bend over backwards to make sure that law enforcement can, in fact, track people down if necessary. Too many service providers fold when the feds come knocking seeking information on people already. As long as this is presented as a way to protect children or stop terrorists or whatever the favorite of the day is, it seems likely that ISPs will get things in order themselves.

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]]>they-just-woke-up?https://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20120619/03230119379Thu, 5 May 2011 09:16:16 PDTMovie Studios Got Canadian Police To Arrest Movie Cammers As A Personal FavorMike Masnickhttps://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110503/02051614128/movie-studios-got-canadian-police-to-arrest-movie-cammers-as-personal-favor.shtml
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110503/02051614128/movie-studios-got-canadian-police-to-arrest-movie-cammers-as-personal-favor.shtmlcriminal law against recording movies in theaters. With the way the industry and its supporters were talking about it, you would think that this meant people could record a movie and upload it with no legal problems, but that simply wasn't true. There were still civil laws against such recording, and the industry could enforce those. On top of that, there were still plenty of existing laws against distribution. Yet, there was a big campaign claiming that camcording in Canada was where 40 to 70% of all the leaked movies came from. This number was made up out of thin air, and seemed obviously false when another campaign for similar laws in New York City then claimed that 50% of camcorded movies online came from NYC. Either way, the lies about the numbers were effective. The industry got its law criminalizing recording a movie.

We've already discussed the Wikileaks releases on US influence on Canadian copyright law, but TorrentFreak points us to a particularly interesting cable on the subject of camcording in Canada. It kicks off with the embassy admitting that the movie industry was now claiming that perhaps only 18% of camcorded movies came from Montreal, despite an earlier claim that it was 40%. Not surprisingly, the MPAA only made a big stink when it claimed the numbers were in that 40% to 70% range... and was pretty quiet about the revised number.

The cable goes on to note that Canadian law enforcement thought the whole thing was pretty silly, and didn't believe camcording was a big deal. Instead, they (quite reasonably!) felt that their efforts would be better focused on stopping things like counterfeit pharmaceuticals from circulating. Later in the report is the really scary part, where Canadian law enforcement (the Royal Canadian Mounted Police) admitted that a particular individual was arrested twice as a "personal favor" to the movie industry, despite his actions not actually breaking the law:

With regard to the arrest of the individual who
had been pursued by the CMPDA, RCMP officers stated that
they arrested the individual "as a personal favor" to a
[movie industry] official, and that they did not view theater
camcording as "a major issue."

The TorrentFreak article goes on to note the tragic details of the individual who was arrested -- again, despite not having broken any law, and apparently as a "personal favor" to someone in the movie industry:

The arrest triggered a chain of events which would lead to Adam, who had a history of depression, enduring a 14 month wait for any charges to be brought. He went on the run, was detained and eventually sentenced to jail. Adam began using drugs in jail to cope with his imprisonment and shortly after his release he tragically died of an overdose.